Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

The National Transportation Safety Board has recommended banning the use of all cell phones while driving, save those used for emergency purposes. This was recommended during a board meeting on December 13th, 2011. This recommendation is for all drivers nationwide, and also calls for the video surveillance of commercial drivers to make sure they are not talking or texting while driving. While it cannot be argued texting or talking while driving is unsafe, the question remains if we need to make a law regulating our activities behind the wheel. The recommendation does not specify what the use of a cell phone is, or what this does or does not include.

BP Claims today of finally capping the Oil leak, 85 days from the beginning of the disaster. A new cap was set in place, which appears to be working to finally stop the devastating oil gusher. The question is: will this work long term, or are we being fooled yet again?

With all the focus on the BP Oil Spill, I have heard next to nothing about the Ixtoc I Oil Spill which occurred in 1979. One would think we would look at a past disaster to determine how best to proceed, and what to expect. The US and World media do not seem to think so, and only wish to focus on the current spill to boost their ratings. Let us look at the Ixtoc I Oil Spill, to determine how things will play out in the next few years.

It is now official, the oil spill has now impacted every gulf coast state. Tarballs found on Sunday in Galveston, TX were confirmed to be from the Gulf oil spill, according to the US Coast Guard. Around 5 gallons of tarballs were found on Crystal Beach covering around 1.5 miles of beach. Tarballs found on Saturday ranged from the size of a dime to a golf ball.

Love it or hate it, the U.S. House of Representatives Passed the Updated Health Care Bill Sunday evening. Championed by the Obama White House as the solution to our nation’s health care crisis; the bill will in the end give 1/6th of the overall US Economy in the hands of the federal government.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission released a plan on Monday for the foundation of a National Broadband System. This system aims to have 100 million American households get Internet speeds of 100 megabits per second by 2020. The goals of the plan are to improve speeds and to increase coverage to the nearly 100 million Americans with dial up Internet access. A Connect America Fund would receive up to $15.5 Billion over the next decade to help achieve this goal.

A Special U.S. Court ruled on Friday that vaccines containing a mercury preservative does not cause autism. Thimerosal, a mercury based preservative used in many vaccines, has been blamed by many parents of autistic children to be the cause of autism. The court ruled that thimerosal based vaccines did not cause the autism of William Mead, an Oregon boy diagnosed with autism. This closes the door on many parents who were seeking payment from the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

CNN reported today that Finland is to become the first nation to declare broadband access a legal right. Starting in July of next year, telecommunication companies will be required by law to provide internet access at speeds of at least 1 megabit per second. No other nation on earth currently has this right. Finland plans to up the speed to 100 megabits per second by 2015. While you may think this is a difficult task for Finland’s government to achieve, 95% of Finland already has online access, making Finland one of he most wired countries in the world.

Last week I wrote an article on Psychcomp.com regarding the Empire State Building displaying the Chinese colors on the 60th anniversary of Communism in China. In the past five days, I have had over 4,000 visitors from Taiwan try to access this article. At the beginning I would have bursts of 200-300 visitors every 3-4 hours, as direct traffic to this one article. I tried to determine where this traffic came from, but I could not figure it out.

If you run a blog that takes in money or products from advertisers, be prepared to fully disclose this information beginning on December 1, 2009. The Federal Trade Commission on Monday, September 5th, stated on December 1st, all bloggers who review products must disclose any connection with advertisers, including in most cases the receipt of free products and if they were paid in any way by advertisers. The purpose of this is to allow readers to know the full relationship between a blogger and the advertiser.